2010: Wentworth Says It Ain't So

Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, says he isn't going anywhere. A hot rumor has him quitting office or giving up his bid for reelection to pursue other ventures, but the senator says there's nothing to it.

He thinks his recent bid for chancellor of the Texas State University System — a job that went instead to Rep. Brian McCall, R-Plano — started the gossip. Wentworth, who was a TSUS regent before running for the Texas House in the late 1980s, came in second.

Now he'll continue his bid for another term in the Senate (he's a lock, by the way, with only a Libertarian between him and the January swearing-in). He wouldn't quit this way, anyhow, he says. Leaving would let the county chairs in his district pick his successor, and Wentworth says, "I'm a firm believer that only voters should pick candidates... this wouldn't involve voters, and I'm not going to do that."